


Worth the Wait

by PhantomEngineer



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 02:31:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15427092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomEngineer/pseuds/PhantomEngineer
Summary: A long time after the threat of war has passed and everyone is happy, Minerva reflects. Things could have been a lot worse, but somehow everything worked out just fine.





	Worth the Wait

Minerva wondered sometimes what her life would have looked like if things hadn’t gone quite as well. The war had threatened to destroy all their lives, and for a while it felt like they’d never be free of the looming shadow of Voldemort, always lurking in the wings. It seemed ridiculous now to think that once upon a time they’d been afraid to say his name, now that he was consigned to a footnote of history.

No one really knew the details of how he’d been defeated, that was confidential. Even Minerva, for all her closeness with Albus, had been left entirely in the dark. She knew about as much as the general public, with one more word that she had never mentioned to anyone. She’d heard the word Horcrux mentioned once, in a scrap of a conversation between Albus and Severus that she was certain she had not been supposed to overhear. It didn’t give her any clues, and she had never dared to ask either of them. If it was intended to be a secret then she could respect that. She hadn’t told Sirius either, not because she didn’t trust him but because she did trust Albus and Severus. She trusted them enough that if that was something best kept secret, it was best she pretended she had never heard a thing.

All she really knew was that Severus had been awarded the Order of Merlin first class, an event that had been entirely overshadowed by the intensity with which Lily had beamed, her pride and joy clearly enough to power a thousand Patroni. That was enough for Minerva, and she was glad that it was enough for Sirius too. He’d matured in the decades since she’d first met him, a rebellious and ultimately angry young boy, though he’d never lost his charm. Now he was a confident and relaxed man who she could always rely on. 

It was days like this, when her marking was dull and he was late coming home that she tended to think back to those pivotal, intense moments that were both so distant and yet she knew had had such an effect on her present. If things had been different maybe they wouldn’t have ended up together. It wasn’t a blissful harmony, as that seemed far too calm for anything involving Sirius, who was all passion. Life with him was a chaotic cacophony of laughter and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Sometimes she thought he was louder than the students she taught, and infinitely sillier. But he also saw a side of her that her students never got to see, her eternally neat bun undone and unravelling in his presence as if he had the keys to her heart.

She still hated dogs, of course. The small ones always yapped incessantly, like annoying first years, small and squeaky. The big ones made her nervous, reminding her of the snarling monster that had belonged to the crofter next to her childhood home. She felt far more at home with cats. But she made an exception for the large black dog that Sirius would sometimes become, accepting him as tolerable. She even tolerated the faint scent of wet dog that lingered in her rooms, no matter as to whether there had been a wet dog in them. But she liked the dog that he would sometimes become, a soft head lolling in her lap, silky ears begging for her fingers to stroke them.

She had been angry with him at first, at discovering his secret, but she had also been secretly impressed. The shy revelation that the Marauders had become Animagi to help Remus with his monthly transformations had touched her and also, she was certain, contributed towards the war effort. It had definitely served to nullify any affect that Peter Pettigrew’s ability might have had, his secret revealed long before his betrayal had shocked them all, negating a lot of the consequences that she shuddered to think of. He’d drawn her in to the Order of the Phoenix, and she’d drawn from him a secret that helped change the war.

“Hey,” a familiar voice spoke, soft and warm as he always was. Arms wrapped themselves around her, appreciated and also disrupting her marking. She was almost finished anyway, just one essay left to consider. She read through it, making careful notes in the margin as she let her head begin to rest against Sirius’s chest, feeling herself relax.

He let her finish, not saying anything more that might disturb her concentration. He knew how seriously she took her job. He admired her commitment, her strictness and her professionalism, even if it was that same professionalism that had led to her initially resisting his advances. A part of her regretted the time lost due to that, but more of her didn’t. She had been true to herself and he knew that. She had been afraid, for a brief while, that he harboured nothing more than a schoolboy’s crush. The years had proved her to be wrong, and she couldn’t be happier.

She set her quill down, her marking done, and turned to face him. He smiled, his whole face lighting up in delight as if he was gazing on the most beautiful woman in the world. She wondered, as she had begun to, about retiring. When she had first got her position at Hogwarts she had imagined she would end up like Albus, giving her life to the school with nothing much to claim a hold on her emotions outside of it. She had thought that her heartbreak would be her last experience of that kind of love, just like Albus had clearly never allowed himself to love again. But her life had been different, she had fallen deeply in love and it had been a love that was returned with a fervour that still took her breath away. Sometimes she wished that she could spend more of her time with him, rather than teaching children the same lessons every day. She wasn’t like Severus or Lily, who both clearly delighted in the lessons they taught. She knew that both Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts were popular with the students who achieved consistently good grades in their exams every year. She imagined that Lily would make a good Head of House, and she knew that their relationship would not be damaged in the slightest by them being Heads of rival Houses. If anything, she was beginning to believe that it would only help to bring the Houses closer together. 

“I am going to retire,” she said suddenly, finally making the decision that she’d known all along that she would make. Sirius blinked in surprise, a grin spreading across his features. He was older than the first time they had met, when he had been an eleven year old desperate to take on the whole world to prove himself in some way to his family. His face bore lines now to match her own, though his hair was still untouched by grey.

Softly, he kissed her. She could feel the slight scratch of stubble against her sensitive skin, not minding the sensation but rather enjoying it. It was a part of what made him the man she loved, an element that suited him so perfectly that it was like catnip to her, drawing her further in to her feelings of love that spiralled onwards to eternity. It had taken her longer than the little girl from the highlands had imagined, but she’d found herself a love that would test the concept of forever.


End file.
